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Weekly Reflection: Taking Offense

There are many times in life where we feel we have been wronged. Whether those wrongs are real or perceived, it is important to learn to let it go. Holding onto past offenses does nothing to improve our situations, but it can lead us down very bad paths that we never thought we would take. If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I do get pretty easily offended, and I have a very hard time letting those offenses go. There’s something that feels weirdly satisfying about staying angry, but it never really improves my situation and honestly it just continues to make me miserable. When I let go however, life is happier.

In my Book of Mormon class this week we went over Mosiah 10. In this chapter it talks about the Lamanites’ hatred towards the Nephites. We then talked about Laman and Lemuel and how they felt they had been wronged throughout their lives. They taught their children that Lehi and Nephi’s sins were the cause of the family being “driven out” of Israel. In turn, Laman and Lemuel’s children told these false stories to their children. Generation after generation told fake tales of how Nephi constantly wronged poor, innocent Laman and Lemuel, and how he dared “steal” the brass plates (that they weren’t even using, but that’s conveniently left out of the stories’ retelling). Whats truly sad about this, is that in Laman and Lemuel’s twisted minds, they probably do feel like they’re the ones that were wronged. Thanks to their inability to move on, they caused generations upon generations of vicious hatred towards the Nephites, keeping their posterity from being able to learn the gospel.

I don’t want to end up like Laman and Lemuel, where I let my anger and hurt feelings get so out of control that I ruin my own life. So, I’m making a goal this week to try not to let myself get so easily offended. Wish me luck (or pray for me, that might be better!)